One small item I noticed in the April FasTrack on the Solo Advisory Committee pages on Page 26 (last page of file):

"Recommended to the B.O.D.
- ITEM 1) Move the Mini Cooper S from GS to DS."

That's it. No explanation, no year ranges, just move Mini Cooper S from GS to DS. I am guessing if this were to get passed by the BOD and go into effect, it would be for the 2010 season at the earliest.

For Reference, if the MCS was in DS last year for the national competition, the top 5 entrants would have placed 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th in DS as opposed to 1st - 5th in GS.

 

Well, since the DS pax is .819 and the GS pax is .821, I for one welcome our new D-stock overlords.


Seriously, I have been hearing about this from the Acrua/Honda guys since the middle of last year as if it were an ominous change. I don't see how it's great big change for the mini. If you win G stock all the time, then you will probably dominate D stock as well (see above pax). If you run mid-pack like I do, you will probably run mid-pack in D stock, too. More competitors, more trophies. The only thing that makes me sad about this if it goes through is, they just moved a bunch of cars from D to G stock (Neon SRT4, Mazdaspeed Protege), and I wanted more folks in my class.

Plus, I won't have to hear about how my car makes G stock a single make class anymore.

 

This has been a perennial recommendation that hasn't gone anywhere. It seems like the cars moved from DS to GS make it even less likely to be approved.

 

Oh, I agree that it's probably not gonna go anywhere. But even if it did, would it change much from the perspective of the average S driver? Mostly, I am just tired of hearing about it as a gloom and doom prophecy, the DS cars are not any faster than the MINI. (ok, the 135i is new in the class, and how fast it is remains to be seen).

Really, if anything should happen, the cars that got moved to GS should get moved back with the S to DS, and the 06-earlier JCW factory cars should get moved into DS as well. That would open up GS for someone else, give the mini someone to run against in its class, and end the (IMHO) unfair classing of the JCW. I am not king, so the JCW move got squashed. In the end, I don't really see the rest happening either.

(edit: yet another reason I don't see this happening is, it would most likely leave GS to either the SRT-4, an out of production, low-volume car; or the Mugen Si , a very low volume car that is at least still being produced. Maybe the new GTI or the Ion Redline can keep up with them, I am not sure.

If it does happen, wet days will be more interesting with lots of AWD models in DS. )

Ok, I think I got that all off my chest. Let's hope so.

 

Also in that issue is the proposal to move all BS to CS, i.e. the JCW's to another letter, but nothing changes. Everything else would be moving with them.